The Biden administration announced on Monday that it had imposed sanctions on Amana, Israel’s largest development organization in Judea and Samaria, as part of the latest US actions targeting Israeli settlers.
In its statement, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it was sanctioning Amana the Settlement Movement of Gush Emunim Central Cooperative Association, a “settlement development organization that is involved with US-sanctioned individuals and outposts that perpetrate violence in the West Bank.”
The punitive action was taken as “part of an ongoing multilateral approach by the United States and its partners to hold accountable those who are threatening the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank.”
The sanctions block Americans from any transactions with Amana and freeze its US-held assets. Amana has also been sanctioned by the United Kingdom and Canada.
“The United States, along with our allies and partners, remains committed to holding accountable those who seek to facilitate these destabilizing activities, which threaten the stability of the West Bank, Israel, and the wider region,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo.
That’s two destabilizing activities in one sentence!
This assault against Israelis in Judea and Samaria by the Biden administration is the latest in a series of sanctions against those allegedly undermining “peace, security, and stability in the West Bank.”
Reports indicate that Biden may level further sanctions against Israeli individuals and organizations, including ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, following a letter issued by some 90 congressional Democrats in October urging Biden to impose sanctions on them.
Furthermore, the Israel Hayom daily quoted an American source close to the Biden administration who said that the US intends to approve a resolution against Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria at the UN Security Council that states that Israel’s presence in these territories, including Jerusalem’s Old City, is contrary to international law.
Israel fears that the Biden administration will take advantage of its last days in office to harass Israeli individuals and groups, much the way former president Barack Obama did in his last days in office in 2016.
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to reverse these anti-Israel moves.
